Some very sad news is circulating today, as it's been reported that Don Calfa has passed away at the age of 76.

Multiple sources, including The Hollywood Reporter, reveal that Calfa passed away at his residence in Yucca Valley, California.

For many horror fans, Calfa will forever be known as Ernie, the mortician who helped his friend Burt and a group of young punks take on an army of zombies in Dan O'Bannon's The Return of the Living Dead. In addition to his indelible dialogue, Calfa's believable role as Ernie grounded the film in reality—his reactions to the dead coming to life mirrored how many might have reacted in a similarly bizarre (and frightening) situation.

And not just any actress. Lange has won two Oscars, one in 1983 for a supporting role in “Tootsie” and another in 1995 for a lead role in “Blue Sky.” She’s also taken home Emmys for “Gray Gardens” and “American Horror Story.” And earlier this year, she won a Tony for the role of Mary Tyrone in Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” making her the 22nd member of the so-called Triple Crown of Acting (Helen Hayes was the first).

And just on Saturday, Lange received this year’s Krzysztof Kieslowski Award for Acting at the 24th annual Camerimage Film Festival in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

The world knows less about Lange’s extensive career as a photographer, but that side of her life drew big crowds in this small Polish city where Sunday she opened an exhibit of her work at the bwa municipal gallery.
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Bydgoszcz, Poland — The Camerimage Film Festival kicked off its 24th edition Saturday, honoring cinematography from around the globe, and honoring producer Robert Lantos and two-time Oscar winner Jessica Lange in the grand hall of the Opera Nova in the town of Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Lange drew applause as she confessed she was “actually thrilled to be out of the United States” this week while accepting the Krzysztof Kieslowski award for outstanding performances. An audience of scores of top DPs and directors, mixed with the cream of Polish cinema and dozens of local film students, expressed appreciation for the actress’ four decades of work, ranging from 1976’s “King Kong” to “Grey Gardens” via “The Postman Always Rings Twice” and “Frances.”

Lantos, a longtime collaborator with the likes of directors Istvan Szabo, David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan, also took to the stage to receive his Golden Frog for producer with unique visual sensitivity.
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Jessica Lange – recipient two Oscars, three Emmys, and a Tony – will receive the Krzysztof Kieślowski Award at Camerimage, the annual cinematography film festival that takes place annually in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in November.

The actress will also exhibit a collection of her photos at the fest, assembling 135 black-and-white photographs (including 12 contact sheets) taken traditionally over the last 20 years.

The Krzysztof Kieślowski Award, named after the renowned Polish director and screenwriter who died in 1996, recognizes excellence and passion in both film and photography.

This will be the first showing in Poland for Lange, a longtime photographer whose work has been exhibited on two continents. She will be on hand for the opening at the bwa Municipal Gallery in Bydgoszcz on Nov. 13.

The 24th edition of Camerimage, also known as the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, will will run from Nov. 12 through 19. Camerimage is unique among film festivals in that
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The Us one sheet for Michael Mann’s 1981 debut feature Thief—which screens tonight and all weekend at BAMcinématek to kick off their retrospective "Heat & Vice: The Films of Michael Mann"—is an unusual design for its era. The colorful script title treatment is echt 80s of course, but the posterized monochrome portrait of James Caan overlaid over a photographic image of sparks from blowtorches (the titular character’s tool of choice) is something I haven’t seen before. It gives the poster an unusual three dimensional look, though at first glance those glowing goggles make it look more like a sci-fi film.Thief was released on March 27, 1981 and was damned with faint praise in The New York Times by Vincent Canby:“Mr. Mann may well become a very good theatrical film maker but, among other things, he's going to have to learn how to edit himself, to resist the
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Criterion digs Bitter Rice out of obscurity this month, a pulpy mix of social drama and dime store pathos from director and screenwriter Giuseppe De Santis. Premiering at the 1949 Cannes Film Festival, the title was also nominated for an Oscar in 1950 for Best Story. Lumped in with the neo-realism movement, it’s been a well-regarded minor title, but its problematic noir elements seem to have denied it prominent classification, at least compared to De Santis’ contemporary, Roberto Rossellini, whose Rome, Open City (1945) birthed the movement (and had just finished his notable war trilogy the year prior to release of this title). But De Santis creates something a bit stranger with this hybrid, a darker examination of sex and violence from the perspective of two central female characters. In its native language, the title is a pun since the Italian word for rice can also be substituted for the word laughter,
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